A Haven From Darkness
by The Hogwartian
Summary: It is said that an ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow. The Marauders' tale of love, friendship, Darkness, and betrayal. Please read and review!
1. The Final Journey to Hogwarts

**A Haven From Darkness**

**Chapter One: The Final Journey to Hogwarts**

* * *

Every year on September first, Muggles groaned to themselves. King's Cross Train Station was always more crowded that morning with a group of people, usually dressed oddly in clashing and incorrectly fastened clothing. The station would always stay packed until around ten-thirty, when the strange people carrying trunks somehow disappeared.

This year, as always, Muggles went through their morning routines, slightly disgruntled at the people who forced them to wake up an extra half an hour early. Though they were expecting the influx of peculiar people, they were surprised to see a motley looking family come bustling down the walkway after ten-thirty.

Ther two adults dressed in what appeared to be black dresses. This would not be disturbing for most Muggles, except for the fact that one of these adults was a tall, black-haired man. One of the braver, and ruder, Muggles passing by muttered "crossdresser" as the man passed by, but the man did not seem to notice.

"Hurry," the man said to his wife and the two young men who were following him. His wife, a good-looking red-haired woman, stopped and turned towards her husband so abruptly that the two teenagers nearly ran into her.

"Mum!" cried the boy with messy black hair as he straightened his glasses that had nearly fallen off.

"Harpocrates Potter," she said crossly to her husband. "If you don't stop rushing me, I swear I'm going to jinx you into a jelly! I already know that we're running late! And sorry, James, dear," she added.

The man, who did not look remotely distressed that his wife had threatened to turn him into a jelly (although how that was possible, the Muggles passing by didn't know), helped the other boy, who had tumbled into a nearby wall in effort not to run into the fuming Mrs. Potter. Picking up the books that had fallen out of the trunk, he muttered, "You'd never know it was her who kept us late, eh, Sirius?"

Mrs. Potter turned around swiftly. "I heard that," she said, "and if you were so worried about being late, then perhaps you shouldn't have insisted on traveling the Muggle way—"

Mr. Potter, who had just checked his watch, interrupted her. "Only ten minutes left to get through. If you don't hurry, Galatea, you won't get your seven minute good-bye."

"Then we'll just have to get going, won't we, dear?"

She took out a stick and waved it in a peculiar circular motion at the boys' trunks. For some reason, the boys looked grateful. When they started walking briskly, it became apparent: their trunks were now lighter.

"Evans is so going to kill me," groaned James, panting slightly as he began to run towards a wall between Platforms Nine and Ten.

"Cheer up, Prongs," said Sirius, jogging a little to keep up. "At least you didn't miss the train. Can you imagine what we'd do in the middle of Muggle London without a clue where Hogwarts actually is?"

Mrs. Potter, who had overheard Sirius' last comment, waved an airy hand and said, "We'd naturally send an owl to Dumbledore. Now come here."

She hugged the pair of them tightly, one hand around each boy.

"MUM!"

"Mrs. Potter!"

"Galatea, you're straggling them," laughed Mr. Potter. Mrs. Potter released the boys, not looking the least abashed.

"Now I want you boys to be good this year," began Mr. Potter as the group headed toward an open door on the train which was labeled "The Hogwarts Express."

"Especially you, James," cut in Mrs. Potter. "Head Boys don't go skiving out of class to hunt down that poor caretaker's cat. They go to class, do their homework, and above all—"

"Do not curse people in between classes," chorused James and Sirius at the same time. "We know."

"But—" began Sirius

"Snape is always cursing us," finished Mr. Potter, smiling. "We know. Just don't curse him first."

"Harry!" said Mrs. Potter in a disapproving tone, though she was half smiling. "What kind of parent are you? That's terrible advice."

But before Mr. and Mrs. Potter's good-natured bickering could begin again, the horn of the Hogwarts Express tooted its last call. It was eleven o'clock.

"Right, well, don't forget to have fun. It's your last year, after all," said Mr. Potter as Mrs. Potter hugged the boys again.

"Onto the train, now, hurry….And don't forget!" called Mrs. Potter as they boarded the train, "Write us when you get to Hogwarts, and again at the end of your first week."

The train wheels began to churn slowly, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter waved good-bye, the pair of them looking a little tearful and slightly bereft.

"See you!" called James, waving at his parents.

"I hate leaving them," he said in a slightly mournful little tone to Sirius as he picked up his trunk.

"All these years and you still can't get past the homesickness," said a voice behind them. "That's just sad, James."

James turned around to face the person who had spoken. It was Remus Lupin, and with him was Peter Pettigrew. Remus' hair had grown a little longer and, as he grinned his hello, James saw that a couple of premature lines had gathered around his twinkling eyes.

"Hey James! Hey Sirius!" said Peter. He was sweating slightly, but he looked pleased to have finally met up with James and Sirius. Peter had always looked up to his three friends, especially James.

"Hey Pete," replied James casually. He grinned suddenly at Peter and said, "Hey, did you get to go to that Magpies-Puddlemere game? We made your precious Puddlemere look like you didn't even know what a Quaffle was!"

"We just had a bad season, is all," said Peter just as enthusiastic. "We'll get you next time. Just you wait. We'll be 'beating back the Bludgers' right into your expensive Chasers' faces. Make you wish you'd never bought them for so many Galleons."

"Don't be jealous that your team don't have the gold to pay for the best," replied James high spiritedly.

Remus and Sirius shared a look. It was a never ending argument between Peter and James. Although they both had great interest in Quidditch, neither Sirius nor Remus were as obsessed with Quidditch the way James and Peter were. Quidditch was the only thing on which Peter and James disagreed; even though their argument about which team was the best was as old as Sirius' Sirius-serious joke, it never ended.

"Merlin, look at the time," said Sirius, with an air of someone with an air of someone who was trying to break up an argument.

Remus looked down at his watch and James paled. He had forgotten, and only Merlin knew how he had forgotten, about his first meeting as Head Boy!

"Damn!" he said, slapping his hand to his forehead. And, handing his trunk over to Sirius, said, "I'm supposed to meet Lily before we meet with the other prefects! Take this to our compartment for me, will you?"

Before Sirius could shake his head, Peter's chubby little hands grabbed the handle and he squeaked, "I'll get it for you, Prongs."

"Thanks Wormy. Aren't you coming, Remus?" James asked. He would've thought that Remus, as a Gryffindor prefect, would be coming with him.

"No," he replied, "Prefects don't have to be there for another few minutes. It's the Heads who have to be there on time, so they can get prepared for the meeting."

James shrugged and took off at a run. Even halfway down the end of the corridor, he could Sirius still laughing behind him and Peter shouting, "We'll be in the seventh carriage!"

Wary, James stepped into the Prefects' compartment. There were several chairs were grouped in twos, a chair for each prefect from every house, he supposed. The room was empty except for a pretty red-headed girl sitting in the only desk in the compartment. She was scribbling furiously on a scroll of parchment.

"Hey, Evans."

"Nice of you to turn up, Potter," she said in a clipped voice, without looking up.

James leaned against the compartment door. It had always been this way between him and Evans; she would be calm, cool, and collected…until he pushed the right button that sent her into a flying rage, that is.

"I thought so too," he said arrogantly. It was the kind of statement that would have made anyone but Lily Evans (who took herself very seriously) laugh.

"Argh, Potter you are the most infuriating person!" she said, glaring at him.

Lily turned back to the parchment and continued to write. James had no idea what she was writing, but he assumed that she would discuss the plan for the meeting with him once she was ready. Unfortunately, patiently waiting for her to finish was quite boring. James circled the room once, then twice, and about halfway through the third circle, Lily looked up.

"Could you please stop walking around the bloody room?" she said tightly. It was a question, but came out more as an order.

James stopped in front of a pair of chairs with the Gryffindor emblem inscribed on their backs. He faced the desk that Lily was sitting at; the giant Hogwarts crest that hung on the wall behind her.

"Does it bug you?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll keep walking."

Again, James began to walk around the room, but before he could go more than two meters, Lily let out a straggled cry.

"Potter!"

He merely chuckled. Driving Lily insane had always been one of his favorite pastimes. Over his sixth year, he had had more worries, such as renewing the strained friendship between Remus and Sirius after the Great Snape Fiasco and reworking the entire Quidditch team, and was unable to annoy Lily as much. It wasn't so much that he liked making Lily angry with him, he thought, it was more that he liked to have her looking and talking with him. There was also, of course, her ever endearing habit of taking chest heaving breaths in attempt to calm herself down.

"Okay, okay. Keep your shirt on," he conceded. "But what's the novel for anyway?"

He edged over to the desk. Peering over her shoulder at the parchment, he saw the title written in her neat handwriting, "Talk with Prefects." And below was a list of things that they were to talk about with the prefects. She had written an outline for everything they needed to discuss. In the margins, she had labeled what each of them would say

"We're a team now, you know," he said, in a miffed tone. Lily looked taken aback; never had she imagined that James might be upset that she had taken the time to write everything.

"Well, I thought that you, you, I mean—it's a boring job. At least this part is," she said. "I assumed that you had better things to do than—"

"Don't you know what happens when people assume, Evans?" asked James. She looked completely nonplussed, so James continued, "You make an ass out of you and me."

To his great surprise, Lily laughed. He had expected maybe a roll of the eyes, or an exasperated look, but never, ever had he expected to make Lily laugh. Never before had Lily Evans laughed at his jokes; an upward twitch of her mouth, certainly, but never a real laugh. It was a beautiful sound.

"I haven't heard that in ages!" she said, still laughing. "My mum used to tell that to Tuney and me when we were little."

Leaning an elbow on the high-backed chair that she was sitting on, he said, "Well, I try."

There was an awkward pause, in which Lily seemed to be assessing him. Awkwardly, James wordlessly handed over the parchment to Lily, who took this as a sign that James agreed to go ahead with her plan. Neither Lily nor James could think of anything to say. Luckily, the compartment door opened just then. A young girl, a fifth year by the look of her, nervously stepped in.

"Er—hello," she said. She glanced around, and realizing that there was no one else in the compartment, she hesitated. It was easy to tell by the repeated flick of her eyes to the clock above Lily and James' heads that she was wondering whether or not she was early.

James walked over to her, smiling, and shook her hand.

"Hello," he said, "I'm the Head Boy, James. Glad you could make it."

"I'm not too early, am I?" she asked. "Because if I am, I can—"

"You're right on time," said Lily warmly to the girl. "It's everyone else who's a bit late. But they should be in shortly."

True to Lily's word, the compartment quickly became filled; fortunately, the entrance of the other prefects was much less awkward. Lily waved to Artemisia McKinnon, a black girl with shoulder length black hair. James thought this was odd. He was under the impression that Artemisia and Lily didn't talk very much outside of classes, but he supposed that he never saw them disagree either. But James' attention was soon turned by the arrival of Remus Lupin, who was surprisingly the last person to enter the room.

Lily and James faced the group of prefects, who watched them seriously from their seats. The meeting went off without a hitch and there was no one, as far as James could tell, who would cause much trouble for him this year. Well, there were the Slytherins, but they never got along with anyone so they didn't count, thought James as he eyed them distastefully. The Slytherin prefects had edged their seats away from the other prefects and seemed to take particular offense to the appointment of two Gryffindor Heads.

The meeting ended and the prefects drifted out until the only people left in the room were Artemisia, Remus, Lily and James. They chatted for a few minutes on all of the usual things: what they did for the summer; what classes they are continuing to take; and did you hear what Julia Steinburg did to her hair?

James was stunned to hear that Artemisia had chosen to drop Ancient Runes.

"Why? You were one of the best in the class!"

Artemisia merely shrugged and there was an uncomfortable silence. Everyone looked at each other unsure of what to say or do, and then Artemisia stood up abruptly. This movement caused her chair to shake, nearly falling to the ground.

"I ought to get going," she said as she caught her wobbling chair, "I'll just leave you guys to your Head stuff."

As she slipped out the door, James saw that Lily looked as perplexed as he felt. Remus, who looked unsurprised at neither Artemisia's words nor her exit, stood up as well.

"She's right," he said, "You guys have got loads to plan." He then turned to James and said, "I'll see you later in our compartment."

"See you in a bit."

"It was good seeing you again, Remus," said Lily.

With no one else in the room, James and Lily faced each other, each wondering what to say to the other.

"Well, we should get started, then," said Lily, blushing slightly.

"Yeah," he echoed.

"We should start this first week off by doing the rounds ourselves," she began. In less than no time, Lily had a chart of prefect patrol times drawn up. James, who was not nearly as organized as Lily was, provided the times that each prefect was not available and reminded Lily of the holidays and of birthdays.

By the time Lily and James had finished the schedule, it was evening and each could tell that they were nearing Hogwarts. James vaguely wondered why it was so easy to talk to Lily when she had always seemed uptight around him in the past. He wondered why he had never tried just talking with her before as he pulled on his robes and headed towards the head of the train.

There was a loud shout of "PRONGS!" as he opened the compartment door. In the few hours that he had spent with the prefects and Lily, his friends had managed to completely trash the compartment. There were chocolate frog cards strewn all over the floor, bits of fluff from the seats everywhere, and a green, sticky substance on the walls—James wasn't sure whether he wanted to know what it was.

"It's about time you showed up!" roared Sirius.

"Yeah," added Peter. "You'll never guess what Sirius was about to do."

"What?" he said interestedly to Peter, who, as the most honest of them all (mostly due to his completely inability to tell a convincing lie), was sure to give the original version of events.

"Sirius wanted the last chocolate frog," Peter said by way of explanation. When James merely raised an eyebrow, he continued, "Sirius said that since he had ordered the chocolate frogs, since you were at the prefect meeting, that he had rights to the last frog."

"You do not!" cried James. The situation, he knew, was ludicrous, but what did it matter when a chocolate frog was at stake? "It's traditionally mine!"

"Ok," said Remus, making himself a peacemaker between James and Sirius. "Let's see the frog in question."

Peter produced the chocolate frog from underneath one of the ruined seats and handed it over to Remus, who took it from Peter. He threw it up in the air several times and seemed in no hurry to decide the fate of the chocolate frog.

"I fear," said Remus, a slow smile lighting up his tired face, "that the only way to solve this problem, is if—" he opened his mouth and dropped the chocolate frog in—"I eat it."

Both James and Sirius spoke at the same time:

"If I knew you were—!"

"Backstabber! Betrayer!"

Peter gave a very loud and very fake cough. Everyone looked over at him and he said, "I think Remus solved the problem best—"

"You always think that," interjected Sirius. He then began listing the reasons why it was a terrible "solution" to the problem and James was agreeing and adding bits here and there. Remus, on the other hand, shot Peter a grateful look. It was so like Peter to take the fall for him.

It wasn't until they had made their way to their place at the Gryffindor table that James and Sirius stopped being miffed at Remus. Although, this did not stop them from engaging in a lively discussion about whom the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was for the year. All discussion halted as Professor McGonagall lead the first years into the Great Hall.

The Sorting Hat sang its song, a different one than James had heard before his Sorting but with the same message: the Houses of Hogwarts must unite or Hogwarts would crumble. The message had never been any different in James' memory, but James knew it was different in times of peace.

"Extra small this year, aren't they?" said Sirius, who looked equally unperturbed by the Sorting Hat's Song.

"It's not the first years who've gotten smaller," replied Remus, "it's us who've gotten taller."

"How do you know it's not a bit of both?" asked Peter. He had been spinning his golden fork on his plate, longing for food. It was not as though it were a stupid question, merely that the person to whom he had asked it just so happened to be Remus Lupin, who's interest in the history of humanity far surpassed any at the Gryffindor table. The only exception was Artemisia McKinnon, who, as Sirius often said, was simply weird that way and so didn't count.

"Because the Muggles have proved that people have been getting taller as time continues. Humans used to be extremely short by today's standards until around the 1700s," Remus said. Sirius and James prepared themselves for yet another long-winded explanation from Remus. But it was cut short by the end of the Sorting and Dumbledore standing up, his robes billowing slightly.

"To our old students, welcome back! And to our new students, a very warm welcome! I'm sure everyone's as hungry as I am, so please have a biscuit and dig in!"

Everyone clapped and cheered as Dumbledore sat down smartly, tossed his long white beard over his should, and did precisely that. The gold dishes piled with food and the first years looked as though they weren't sure where to start; there were mounds of food everywhere. There were dishes of vegetables, several different kinds of breads and meats to choose from, and goblets of sweet, cold pumpkin juice.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were silent as they made their way through the mounds of food. However, there was laughter down the table where Lily was sitting as Mary Wiley, a tall, slim girl with curly brown hair, finished a comical story. As was often Mary's way, the story had involved lots of arm waving and imitations of people. Nearly Headless Nick, who sat behind her, was laughing as well, his head nearly wobbling off.

"So, Lily," she said in a carrying voice, "James is Head Boy."

Lily looked suspiciously at Mary, who feigned an unconvincing look of innocence.

"Yes," Lily said slowly.

"So you'll have lots of _a-loone_ time together, won't you? Any girl's dream."

Mary's eyebrows waggled suggestively at Lily who, surprisingly, smiled. Mary always loved to tease Lily about James and always said that one day Lily and James would have messy-haired green-eyed children. And every time she said it, Lily always began her tirade of James' faults. So, understandably, Mary looked confused.

"Am I to assume that your hatred of James has died?"

Lily's smile fell, but rather than looking angry, she looked bemused. James watched as she looked around for others listening in and, upon seeing his interested expression that he was too slow to disguise, gave Mary an "I'll tell you later" look.

Mary opened her mouth to argue the point, but before she could speak, Dumbledore stood up again. As always, everyone hushed up so Dumbledore could give his start-of-term speech and send them off to bed.

"I shall not impose on your time much longer," he said smiling. "First, I would like everyone to give a warm welcome to Professor Turpin, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who had kindly agreed to stay the year."

A young woman, who couldn't possibly be above thirty, shook back her blonde hair, and waved a hand in a polite, Miss Universe kind of way. There was a round of applause and a few of the guys wolf-whistled. There was a brief disapproving frown on her face, but it was gone as quickly as it came as she turned her pretty face towards Dumbledore.

Dumbledore continued, "I would like to remind everyone to pay close attention during Professor Turpin's classes as the lessons can only be of great help to you, should you find yourself faced with Dark Magic. In these uncertain times, we must hold our ground for our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter. We must always fight for what we know in our heart of hearts is right, even if it means we must go against the wishes of those we love."

Dumbledore paused and smiled, and then said, "But let us not spend the night troubled by the Dark times. We all have very warm beds and I am sure you are very eager to get to yours. I bid you adieu."

There was a scraping of chairs against the floor as everyone got up, many of the younger students yawning. Sleepy and content, James made his way up to his bed, unaware, but excited about what this year, his final year, would bring.

* * *

Disclaimer: What Dumbledore says about "our lives begin to end…" is a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quote. And of course, as always, any characters that you recognized belong to J. K. Rowling.

Please review and tell me what you thought. Hate it? Tell me why. Feedback is the only way that I will be able to write a better, more enjoyable story. Love it? That's great! Let me know! Wishing you lots of laughter, love, and Harry Potter,

The Hogwartian


	2. Something There

**A Haven From Darkness**

**Chapter Two: Something There**

* * *

Although it was a cloudy, gloomy morning, there were smiles upon the faces of nearly every student at Hogwarts. Many were talking with friends, still exchanging summer news. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, however, had finished their greetings to their fellow Gryffindors and felt no need to engage in meaningless chatter with their fellow students. There were more important things, like—

"Food!" cried Peter.

His three friends laughed at his enthusiasm, but joined him in loading their plates with eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Several minutes later, they realized that the Gryffindor table had become slightly quieter as McGonagall walked towards them, a huge stack of schedules floating behind her.

"Ah," sighed Sirius. "Glad we don't have to wait for her to finish with the rest of the queue. Seventh year is going to be the dog's bullocks!"

He stood up as though to beckon McGonagall, who raised an eyebrow at Sirius' waving arm and continued walking past them. Sirius blinked dimly and Peter laughed. James very nearly fell out of his chair. Remus wore an amused look on his face, but didn't laugh in a long lost attempt to live up to his Prefect's badge.

"Hello, Professor," said Lily brightly. She was always a bit of a morning person, something that James had never understood. Lily sneaked a slightly triumphant glance in Sirius' direction. Sirius had gotten over his shock and was now fuming that despite being a Seventh Year, he _still_ had to wait to receive his schedule.

McGonagall didn't seem to notice as she quickly cleared both Lily and Mary of their schedules and was in the process of checking Artemisia's. James, who had been paying no attention, heard McGonagall nearly bowl over in shock.

"This is utter nonsense McKinnon! You'll be making dog's dinner of your career, if you—"

James leaned closer, but was only able to hear Artemisia mumble something. He thought he heard something about a vampire, but that would have made no sense. Mary gave him a "stop listening now" look that made him sit back in his seat. Remus pretended not to notice anything amiss, as usual, and Sirius impatiently asked, "So what's the deal?"

James opened his mouth to answer, but Peter shushed him and pointed back to McGonagall who had now risen and was shaking her head disappointedly.

"You shouldn't forget your dreams, McKinnon. It's what keeps us going in these Dark times," said McGonagall as she headed towards Remus, who had heard the comment at James had. Remus' and James' eyes met, both of them equally perplexed at McGonagall's comment.

Clearing the four of them of their schedules didn't take long and it was with high spirits that James headed off to Ancient Runes. It was a class that he liked, but was not terribly excited about in the same way that Artemisia and Lily were. As the only Gryffindors in a class full of Ravenclaws, James, Lily, and Artemisia normally stuck together. This year, James thought, the hour-long class would be more useful as it could now be considered more guaranteed "Lily time."

"And what is the translation of 'eihwaz' Mr. Potter?" asked Professor Khoumalo.

James looked up, stunned. He had been completely unaware that class had even started and glanced around the room, hoping someone would give him the answer. But the Ravenclaws only stared back at him. A few of them seemed about to burst from the simultaneous desire to answer the question for James and to remain silent as per Khoumalo's wishes.

He felt a prodding at his back, but did not dare turn around as Professor Khoumalo glared at him, her eyes boring into his, waiting quite impatiently for his answer.

"Eschew," a voice, which James thought might have been Lily's, whispered.

He hesitated, unsure of whether or not Professor Khoumalo had heard the question, and if she hadn't, whether the answer was the correct one.

"Eschew," whispered Lily again.

Then again, thought James, Lily was one of the best in the class and it was highly unlikely that she had done the same as him and not studied or done homework until the last few days before school started.

"Eschew!" James repeated to the class, triumphant. But just as he was thinking that he had really dodged a bullet, he heard Professor Khoumalo laugh and the Ravenclaws following her lead.

He turned around to face Lily, accusingly, but she looked completely unapologetic.

"I told you," she said, barely containing her laughter, "'It means 'yew' like the wand core.'"

"You could've enunciated," he hissed at her as Professor Khoumalo quieted the class.

"I did," she whispered back, "It's not my fault you're deaf."

"I bloody well am not—"

"Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans!"

The pair of them glanced up at Professor Khoumalo who looked slightly shocked that Lily had been talking in class, especially while she was talking.

"Sorry, Professor," Lily said instantly.

Lily's quick apology seemed to mollify the aging Professor who continued to lecture the class on the value of research. Several times throughout the class, Professor Khoumalo made reference to James' mistake. Her point seemed to be not so much that he had made the mistake, but that he hadn't even tried to come up with a plausible answer.

"At the very least, write something that is related to an animal as most runes tend to be animal-related," she warned. "Partial credit is given to attempts on your N.E.W.T.s, but blank spaces are inexcusable. The last thing I want to see is any of your possible careers squandered away because you couldn't at least think "ephanat" kind of sounds like some kind of elephant."

Professor Khoumalo smiled at James as if to let him know that she wasn't picking on him, but he was barely paying any attention. There was a warm, bubbly feeling inside him that wouldn't go away—not that he would have wanted it to. Lily Evans had helped him out. She had risked receiving detention from Professor Khoumalo and told him the answer….That he had clearly misheard was of no account….Lily couldn't possibly hate him, not if she was helping him….And this was very good news.

"Potter, _Potter_, POTTER!"

"Huh?"

Lily was standing in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Class is over, Potter," she said smiling. "That must've been some daydream."

James blushed. Then, realizing that he was blushing, turned even redder at the thought of Lily knowing his embarrassment. But she seemed to take no notice.

"The Heads' Room is open, so we can go there. You've got a free period now, right?"

"Yes," said James slowly, not following where she was going with the question, but knowing that it couldn't possibly lead to her dragging him into the Heads Room for a heady snog session.

"We should go ahead and get started on this Prefect schedule then."

James couldn't help himself. He was slightly crestfallen, though he knew he shouldn't be. Things with Lily were, as always, strictly business.

Together, they walked down the empty hallway to the Heads' Planning Room. The silence was so deafening, James thought he might have even welcomed the cry of a mandrake.

"So," said Lily.

James, waiting for her to say something else, said nothing. It was one of those awkward moments made more awkward by the complete and utter lack of anything to say.

"Sex," said James smiling.

Lily stopped walking and stared at him.

"Sex?" she asked in a slightly confused and slightly disgusted voice.

"Sorry. It's an inside joke between Padfoot, Remus, Peter, and I. Long story."

"I've got plenty of time," replied Lily. "And you can't get away with just randomly saying 'sex' when I say 'so.'" She began walking again, but this time, at a considerably more slowly and more relaxed pace than she had been before.

"Yeah, that's probably a little awkward," he said laughing. "It all started back in fourth year, when Peter came back from the winter holidays and announced that he was never going back home again."

"What?!"

"Yeah, I know, that's what we all said. Apparently, he had just come from a very embarrassing birds and the bees talk with his mum…you know, since his dad is dead," said James. He paused, wondering if he should continue. Now that he thought about it, the joke really had been kind of gaudy and was probably not the kind of thing that a girl like Lily might enjoy.

He glanced at Lily. She looked eager to hear the rest of the joke, which made James wonder if maybe she wasn't as serious as she always seemed to be whenever he was around.

"Anyway, he didn't want to talk about it any more than that. But of course, Sirius was very interested in a comparison between his birds and the bees talk and everyone else's. By the time Sirius had finished the recounting of his birds and the bees talk, we all just kind of looked at each other. His father had gone into great detail about, you know, what goes where and why. There was an awkward silence so I said, 'so,' just to say something and—"

"And someone else said 'sex,'" guessed Lily with a wide smile on her face.

"But you'll never guess who."

"Peter?"

"Uh huh."

"Sirius?"

"Nope."

"Not Remus!"

James smiled widely and Lily nearly fell over laughing.

"_Remus_?! No way!"

"Yeah," James replied. "So whenever someone says 'so,' one of us always says 'sex.'"

"Of course," said Lily, still laughing. "Because who would ever want to forget a moment like that?"

Conversation with Lily, James quickly and surprisingly discovered, was effortless. There were some awkward moment-enders that simply lead to conversation, and 'so sex' was one that James added to the list. It no time at all, it seemed that they had reached the Heads' Planning Room on the Seventh Floor, given the password ("Enchanted Ending"), and thrown themselves comfortably on the squashy, cozy couch in front of a blazing fire.

Lily took out parchment and quill and opened her mouth. But before the words could come out, James supplied the words for her, "Alright let's get started."

"Hey that's my line," she said, smiling and nudging him playfully.

He nudged her back and said, "I know, but I like to have the first word."

She grinned. "Well, take the floor then."

James raised an eyebrow. This could not, he thought, be the same Lily that he had been to school with for six years. The Lily he knew didn't have time for nudging and laughing at silly 'so sex' jokes. She was on a strict plan to get into the Ministry of Magic. Although, in the back of his mind, James had to admit that he didn't know much about Lily other than that he liked her more than he had liked any other girl.

"I thought you had something to say?" she asked, raising her eyebrow back. She smiled, a beautiful smile that had never been pointed in his direction before.

"Right," he said, coughing slightly. "We should probably try to get House prefects together as much as possible."

"Of course," said Lily blandly.

James looked suspiciously at her. Her words made it sound as though it was a perfectly logical solution, but she sounded as if this were not the best and most obvious plan.

"You don't think we should put people of the same House on patrol together?"

"Well," said Lily slowly, "No."

"No?"

"No," she repeated. "People have different schedules, Potter. For example, you can't patrol on whatever days you hold your Quidditch practices on and there are several other prefects who are on their House teams and so can't always patrol together. And then there are others, like Artemisia, who don't want to patrol as often for some perfectly reasonable reason or another."

James felt a little sheepish for not having thought of this. And as was his habit, his hand went up to his hair to ruffle it a bit.

"So we need to work around the Quidditch schedules, then. Well, those usually stay about the same from year to year."

"Right."

"So," he said slowly, "The only schedules we really need to work around are those who have weird requests like Artemisia."

"Correct," she said smiling. "You're catching on better than I would've thought, Sherlock."

"Sherlock?"

"Never mind," said Lily, shaking her head. "Muggle thing."

James shrugged.

"So who else has an odd schedule besides Artemisia? And why does she have an odd schedule?"

Lily waved a hand dismissively as her other hand rummaged around her bag. "Something about needing more study time for her N.E.W.T.s."

"More study time?" James all but shrieked. "She's got the best grades in the year and she needs more study time even though she's dropped Ancient Runes."

Lily, unable to find whatever it was that she was looking for, turned her back on James to search more deeply in her bag.

"So that's why she wasn't in Ancient Runes this morning," she said. And then, in a voice that sounded as though she had discovered the key to the source of all magic, she cried, "Here it is!"

"Here is what?"

"My list of all the prefects that mentioned to me sometime yesterday what times they couldn't patrol and why."

"So why can't Artemisia patrol often?" asked James again.

"I told you," said Lily testily. "She said she needed more study time for her N.E.W.T.s."

"And I told you that that's a lame excuse," replied James, becoming slightly irritated. "If she's telling us some flimsy little lie for no reason at all, then I don't see why we ought to accommodate her."

Lily looked as though she were struggling to say something, but seemed to decide against it. She settled for merely glaring at him fiercely.

"You don't have to be such a prat. It's not such a big deal to fix the schedule so that she doesn't have to patrol as much."

James, who was used to her glaring at him, was unaffected.

"Look Lily," he said in a slightly placating voice tinged with impatience. "I get it, she's your roommate. But that's no reason to—"

"I'm not agreeing to do it because she's my roommate, Potter!" she said in a ringing tone. "I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do."

"And how do you know that it's 'the right thing to do?'"

"Because she's my roommate and I know she's just going through a rough patch right now, with everything that happened over the summer and she just needs the time off, alright Potter?"

James gave her a mutinous glare but did not argue the point. She pretended not to notice this and launched into a speech about who was available and when. They finished the schedule in record time without further problems and began to head down to lunch.

"You know," said James slowly, "I don't get why Artemisia was made this year's prefect over Mary."

Lily looked at him sharply. "I suppose because Dumbledore thought she'd be up to the job. I guess it's a bit like you becoming Head Boy."

"Hey!" exclaimed James.

"Oh honestly Potter!" said Lily. "It's not like it's very often that the Head Boy isn't a prefect first. How did you get to be Head Boy anyway?"

James smiled smugly. "I've got connections in the right places."

Lily gave a disbelieving snort of laughter. "No seriously."

"Well, Moony—sorry, Remus thinks it's because of that whole thing last year."

"What did happen then?" asked Lily curiously. It was a question that James had heard innumerable times the previous year and it had always annoyed him. People only wanted to hear the gossip and just didn't really care that Remus and Sirius' friendship had been nearly completely destroyed. But Lily didn't sound like all the other rumor-mongering students.

James stared at a wall, thoughtfully. There seemed to be no way that he could tell her how he had saved Snape's life without telling her that Remus was a werewolf. But before he could even answer her question, someone else answered for him.

"I can answer that, Lily."

It was Snape. James felt waves of fury wash over him. As far as he knew Lily and Snape hadn't talked since Fifth Year when he called her what was, in his opinion, the dirtiest word that a person could be called. Snape had betrayed her, adapted the Death Eater view on Muggleborns, and become what he was probably destined to be from birth, a Dark wizard.

"Didn't you get the hint last year, Snape?" James said roughly before Lily could say anything. "She doesn't want to speak to you."

"Who says I don't Potter?" said Lily imperiously. Her eyes flashed dangerously.

James backtracked, his thoughts swirling and spinning faster than a top. After all this time, she _did_ want to speak with Snape?

Snape smirked at James.

"Lily, are you sure? I mean, he is pretty much a Death Eater. I bet he's probably already got a Dark Mark, haven't you Snape?"

James was pleased to see Snape's abnormally pale face flush slightly. But Lily let out a mirthless laugh and said sarcastically, "Because Voldemort would let schoolchildren sign up to be Death Eaters? I've got it covered, Potter. Bugger off, will you?"

He threw his arms up in the air in frustration. Lily had never taken his warnings to heart. He should've known better than to try to tell Lily she shouldn't be meeting up with Snape. Hadn't she defended him and made excuses for him for years?

Snape, who had been watching their little display quietly with a judging look on his face, smirked again as James came by.

"Burn much, Potter?" he said in a very self-satisfied tone.

"I've got better things to do anyway than listen to you whine about how you're sorry you lost Lily's friendship, Snape."

"Like what, drooling over Lily like some love sick puppy?"

"No," replied James shortly, "Like training a winning Quidditch team."

Snape scowled and James inwardly cheered himself for a mission well accomplished. Snape had been unable to make the Slytherin Quidditch team because they told him that he was too scrawny for their rough-and tackle style of playing Quidditch.

As James rounded the corner, he thought he heard Lily tell Snape something about how he shouldn't have bothered to trying to talk to her. He smiled to himself.

* * *

Please press the review button and let me know what you think! Wishing you lots of laugher, love, and Harry Potter,

The Hogwartian


	3. Over My Head

**A Haven From Darkness**

**Chapter 3: Over My Head**

* * *

"I. Am. In. Love," declared Sirius to the room at large. It was a moment before the other three occupants of the Gryffindor boys' dormitory realized that Sirius had entered.

James looked up from his book. It was several weeks into the school year and he was cramming for his Ancient Runes test the next day.

"That's nice, Padfoot," said James idly.

"I am in love and that's all you've got to say?" cried Sirius indignantly.

"Well, you see," Remus began, sniggering slightly, "If we hadn't heard this before you dated about—how many is it now, James?"

"Five," supplied James distractedly.

"It could be real love this time, couldn't it, Padfoot?" said Peter, his forehead shining slightly. He had just come from Care of Magical Creatures, full of complaints about working with the hippogriffs. Apparently, the hippogriffs were not willing to trust him, much to Peter's bewilderment.

"Thank you, Wormy!" said Sirius, beaming at Peter.

"OK, Sirius," said Remus. "Who is she this time?"

"Kathleen Moran," Sirius said in a dreamy voice that had no one fooled. Sirius had a great many public relationships and was proud displayer of public affection. James often thought that it had something to do with embarrassing the Black family name. Mr. and Mrs. Black did not appreciate having their good family name blackened by what Mr. Black called Sirius' "torrid affairs." Of course, Sirius' relationships were only called "torrid affairs" when he was dating a Muggleborn or half-blood.

"The Ravenclaw Quidditch star?" asked Peter.

"Yeah."

"That's not going to last long," said James, ignoring Sirius' affronted "Hey!"

"It's not," Remus agreed. "What're you going to do when Gryffindor plays Ravenclaw?"

"Let you be commentator," Sirius replied as if it were the most obvious solution in the world. "You're better than me at it anyway."

"And remind me again the reason why I'm not commentator?"

Peter chimed in for Sirius, "Because of your 'furry little problem.'"

"Which you shouldn't allow to get in the way of life!" said Sirius hotly. Remus had often declined opportunities to be like a normal student because he thought it left him vulnerable to others discovering that he was a werewolf. It had always bothered Sirius, more than any of the others, that Remus didn't take advantage of any chance to live life normally. James had asked Sirius about it once and received a mumbled reply about not wasting opportunities.

Before Remus could reply, James asked, "Know what this symbol means?"

"James, I dropped Ancient Runes in O.W.L. year," said Remus. "Why don't you try asking Lily? You guys have been getting on well, lately."

"Yeah, 'till she starts freaking out," mumbled James.

"What's this?" asked Sirius, perking up. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Shut it, Sirius," said James. "You know how Lily gets when she's all freaked out about a test. It's—"

"Scary," said Peter, shuddering slightly. Peter had once tried to get Lily to help him with some of his Potions homework back in Fifth Year. He never actually said what had happened but often swore that he never again would think of Lily in the same way again.

"If you want to pass this test, there's only one solution, you know," said Remus. "That's why you should've—"

"Studied all along," chorused James, Sirius, and Peter.

"Some of us just don't have the patience to sit around to do that," said Sirius. Then, jokingly, he added, "We don't have the impatient wolf inside of us to worry about keeping tame."

"No, only the ability to turn into a wild dog, which is far more untamable," quipped Remus, smiling at the memory. Sirius had asked him how he was able keep calm even when Snape dropped heavy hints about his furry little problem and he had replied that he thought it prudent. As James understood it, when Remus was younger, he had thought if he kept his temper that he wouldn't turn into a werewolf at the full moon. But Sirius did not ponder upon the sincerity of Remus' words, preferring instead to use Remus' words as ultimate proof that Remus was, on the inside, equally as wild as the rest of them.

Sirius opened his mouth to argue, when James jumped up. "I think I will go study with Lily after all. Wish me luck."

Sirius and Remus seemed to pay no attention as yet another good-natured argument ensued over who was more untamable. Peter, however, waved and called, "Good luck, Prongs."

James had to look no further than the Common Room for Lily. She was curled in her favorite chair in a pair of low slung cotton pants, massaging the back of her neck with one hand, holding her Ancient Runes book with the other. Mary, whose notes where sprawled everywhere looked disapprovingly at Lily.

"Lily, you've got to stop worrying so much. You're going to drive yourself into an early grave."

Lily sighed distractedly. "I've just got to make sure that I've got all of this down. I always misspell 'ehwaz' and I just can't afford a silly mistake like that this time."

Mary made a face. It was a curse, as Lily called it, that she always made at least one careless error. Mary, who would seriously consider killing to make the grades Lily had, never understood what drove Lily so hard to be so perfect. Everyone knew, of course, that Lily wanted to become an Unspeakable. Yet none of the Seventh Years doubted that Lily would become an Unspeakable—except, of course, Lily.

"Hey, James," said Mary casually. Lily's head jerked back around to face James. She groaned and continued massaging her neck. James assumed she had caused herself a stiff neck from worrying too much—something that he hadn't even known a person could do before he met Lily.

"You really ought to get something for that," he said, walking around the couch. Glancing over Lily's head, he saw Mary waving frantically and mouthing, "Save me!" He grinned appreciatively.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, nothing," he said to Lily, who continued to look at him suspiciously until he sat down next to her.

"I've got a question for you," he said, opening his book carefully.

"Shoot."

"Shoot?"

Lily waved a hand impatiently. "Muggle thing. What's the question? I've got lots of studying to do, Potter."

"Right," said James. He knew better than to take offense, Lily always became brusquer when stressed—which is why nobody doubted that Peter probably had been scarred for life when he had interrupted Lily's studying before O.W.L.s. "This rune here—" he pointed at the rune in the top left corner—"What does it mean?"

Lily squinted at the book and leaned in even closer. But before James could smell the strawberry of her shampoo, Lily let out a frustrated moan.

"I should know this! WHY don't I know this?" She dived after her own book, filled with scribbled in notes in the margins, nearly knocking James' book out of his hands. Enough was enough, James thought. Mary was right—Lily really was about to work herself into an early grave.

He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to face him. Her sharp green eyes met his and James could tell that she was annoyed, but he ignored it.

"Calm down, Lily. You know this stuff, backwards, forwards, and sideways. Probably down some diagonals too."

"No, I don't, I can't even tell you what that rune means. I'm doomed!"

James looked up at Mary, who shrugged her shoulders as if you say, "Now you know what I deal with.'

"You need a break," he said decisively. Lily's mouth dropped.

"How will taking a break help?" she began fiercely. "That's wasted time—time I could've been using to figure—"

"Lily, if you don't take a break, you won't be able to concentrate on the test. You're working yourself into a frenzy…that's probably the reason you always misspell 'ehwaz.'"

There was silence in the room. "Misspelling ehwaz" was a phrase only Lily and Mary used when she discovered that the misspelling of the one word kept her from getting a perfect Outstanding in Fourth Year. Both Lily and Mary looked stunned that James understood their rather outlandish phrase. But just as James was starting to think that he had gotten through to Lily when a huge gray owl swooped into the Common Room, landing gracefully in front of Mary.

Taking the letter from its regally outstretched leg, Mary petted the owl affectionately.

"Shouldn't you be up in the Owlery, Cassandra?" she asked as she opened the letter.

"I've got to go ask Artemisia. She'll definitely know what the run means," said Lily, turning back to James.

"Wha—? No, it's late," James objected. "It's late. Let her sleep, she's got other things on her mind, like—"

"Like Quidditch," Lily interrupted hotly. "I know all about how she's having trouble concentrating when she's on the Pitch lately. And frankly, my test is a lot more important that getting your precious team to be perfect. I need to know what this rune means!"

"Look, Lily," he said, getting angry. "This has got nothing to do with Quidditch. Like you keep saying, Artemisia's going through a rough patch right now and you're going to be—"

James stopped abruptly. Mary was staring at her letter, either in shock or disgust—James wasn't sure. Lily looked worried too.

"Are you all right, Mary?" asked Lily, all thoughts of her irritation with James apparently gone.

Mary seemed to jerk out of a reverie. "Huh? Oh…yeah…I'm fine….Listen, I think I'm just going to go to bed now."

"What about your Astronomy test? You don't want to get a bit more studying in?"

"No, I'll be fine," said Mary, her voice still a little distant. She walked towards the girls' spiral staircase, still looking a little dazed, "G'Night."

Lily looked blankly at James, who was frowning.

"What the bloody hell was that about?" he asked.

"Dunno," said Lily, worriedly. Suddenly, she brightened. "BLOOD!"

"Oh, Merlin. Where?" he said, panicking slightly. The thought of blood, although he was a little ashamed to admit it, made him a little sick.

Lily giggled. "Not here. The rune, it means 'blood.'"

Relaxing completely, James said, "You shouldn't get a bloke so worried. I thought I might need to do some kind of on-site Healing charm or something."

Smiling, Lily took up her book again, significantly more calm. James mimicked her as they settled down together to continue a long night's studying together.

* * *

It wasn't until a couple of weeks later as the Gryffindors sat down to eat a quick lunch before Transfiguration that James realized something odd. Lily had just sat down with the rest of Gryffindor Seventh Years as usual, but today she sat to his right, far away from Mary.

He raised a questioning eyebrow at her and she shook her head slightly and mouthed, "not now." However, now that he knew something was off, pretending not to notice any change, James discovered, was difficult.

Throughout McGonagall's rather boring lecture about Vanishing Transfigured objects. This was saying something as James typically enjoyed Transfiguration, but his mind could not help from wondering. He had thought that everything between Lily and Mary was normal…except, now that he thought about it, they weren't talking and giggling all the time anymore. He had been immensely grateful for it over the past two weeks, but it now lingered in his mind. Maybe he shouldn't have taken it for granted.

"Potter!"

"Yes, Professor," said James startled.

"Five points from Gryffindor. If you would be so kind as to pay attention when I am speaking, I would not like to dock any more points from the Head Boy of all people for not paying attention in class."

"Yes, Professor," said James contritely, although this did not stop him from thinking about Lily and Mary. Professor McGonagall looked unimpressed at his attitude, but made no future mention of it.

It was several minutes later, although it felt like hours to James as his curiosity burned, that McGonagall let them out of class. Her flared nostrils and immense homework load let the class know that she was not at all impressed by James' attitude, which had if anything grown more distant, during class.

He received several dirty looks from the Slytherins, who were, no doubt, blaming him for the load of homework that McGonagall had just assigned, but he was not troubled. Abandoning Remus and Sirius, he bounded after Lily who had managed to escape from the classroom first.

"Lily!"

When she did not turn around, he yelled more loudly.

"Hey, Lily!"

The corridor was empty and James knew that she had heard him, but still she did not stop. Jogging to catch up with her, he said, "Hey…what's…going…on?"

Cornered, Lily faced James. "Nothing," she chirped in a falsely bright voice.

"Then why did you take off like Voldemort himself were after you? Lily, there's many things that I am, but stupid is not one of them. What's going on between you and Mary?" he asked again.

"Nothing."

James raised an eyebrow. "So over breakfast, you couldn't tell me anything because there was nothing to tell?"

"It's her dad," she muttered, blushing furiously over James' not-so-eloquent reminder of her promise to tell him.

"Oh thanks for telling me," he said, annoyed. "I feel so much better now that I know."

Lily sighed. "You know how Mary's always been really close with her dad since her mum passed?"

James nodded and waited for her to continue.

"Well, I've always gotten the impression that her dad—" she took a deep breath before continuing. "That her dad never really liked me much."

"So that's why you guys aren't talking?" asked James skeptically. "Because her dad doesn't like you? What in Merlin's name does that have to do with you two not talking?"

"Well, I think—" said Lily. "But I'm not sure, that he sent her a letter telling not to hang around me."

"I see," James said. "And you think this because…?"

"Because I'm a Muggleborn and it's not safe to be around Muggleborns these days, especially with all these recent attacks," blurted Lily.

James started blankly at Lily.

"That's absurd. She's never had a problem with you before. It has to be something else. PMS or something…"

Lily's eyes glinted in anger. "First, Potter, PMS only lasts a week and Mary's not been talking to me for two weeks. And second, I knew you wouldn't understand!"

"Wouldn't understand what? That it's unsafe to be a Muggleborn because of Voldemort and his crew? Because I certainly understand that!" said James hotly.

"Do you?"

"Yes! I do! My parents are heavily involved in the Ministry, you know."

She peered at him, her green eyes piercing his, immediately causing his eyes to water. Still, he did not look away.

"You have no idea what its like to fear for your family, for yourself, just because of what you are," she whispered. She wore a pinched worried look that was not unlike the one that his mother wore after she read the newspaper.

"Who says I don't," challenged James. "The war's been going on almost as long as I've been alive."

Lily raised an eyebrow and James said, "Well, maybe not that long. And there's really only been a serious threat these past few years, but you get the point."

"You're missing the point. You've never been affected by it, not like I am, not like Mary is, and certainly not like Artemisia is," Lily insisted.

There was a long silence. James' hand jerked upwards reflexively before he remembered how much Lily hated that bad habit of his. He pulled it down with some effort. It was true that his parents had protected him from the majority of the effects of the war and having no siblings or aunts or uncles or any other particularly close relatives, he hadn't really been affected by the war. It was just a part of life for him.

"How does it affect you any more than it does me?"

It was a stupid question, he realized, almost as soon as the words had slipped out. But Lily did not look surprised.

"It affects…everything."

James gave her a confused look and was ready to argue that that didn't even begin to make sense. How the hell could it affect her 'everything,' anyway? She was in Hogwarts for over half the year!

"I'll see you later, Potter," she said gently and she walked off.

James, however, was rooted to the spot. What was it like to be affected, to really be affected by the war? Did he have to end up like Artemisia, giving up the things that he loved? Or ending friendships like Mary? He wasn't sure that he could do that. The only thing that he knew as he headed off to the Quidditch Pitch was that he was the fourth stick in the Marauder rectangle. Without one, even quiet Peter, their friendship would crumble.

"Hey, James! Seen Sirius?" James heard someone call some time later.

"No," he replied a little glumly.

Kathleen looked as though she were going to say something, but apparently she decided against it.

"So…how's the Quidditch going?"

James smiled weakly. Quidditch was something that Kathleen always fell back on when in doubt. It was one of the things that Sirius liked so much about her and the only thing that allowed the rest of the Marauders to be able to tolerate her. Most of Sirius' other girlfriends, to be frank, had no substance.

"We're so going to whip your tails this year," he said, half-heartedly.

"Not if you can't catch the Quaffle even once," she cheerfully replied.

"Moran, you're the only Ravenclaw player we've got to watch out for. Trust me, when I say we've got you covered."

"Oh, really?"

"In fact, I'm on my way now to give out the new instructions for Wood and Mary."

"You think a Beater and a Chaser are going to take care of me?" Kathleen raised a delicate skeptical eyebrow. "It's going to take a lot more than that to stop me from scoring, even if I'm having a bad day."

James rolled his eyes. It was always a competition for Kathleen.

"I'll see you later. And I better not find you on my Quidditch Pitch, Potter! We need that practice time!"

She walked off briskly and James called after her, "Your Quidditch Pitch?"

James thought he might've heard an "of course," but he was nearly bowled over by Artemisia. She was panting slightly, her dark hair matted against her forehead.

"Potter…I have….to tell you…can't…make..."

"Don't tell me you can't make practice again, Artsy?"

Artemisia scowled. "I told you, don't call me that! It's a ridiculous nickname!"

Snickering, James replied, "I know, but it suits you so well."

"Shut it, Potter," she growled. "Anyway, all jokes aside, I can't make practice tonight."

"This is the fourth time this month. Is something wrong?"

James looked closely at Artemisia. It wasn't like her to miss even one practice, let alone four in one month. She shifted her weight slightly before looking directly past him.

"I've got to do some studying."

"You don't have a test."

"How do you kno—I mean, I've got one…coming…"

"You're a terrible liar, Artemisia, and I checked the schedule before I scheduled tonight's extra practice."

"Dammit! I just can't, okay, Potter?" She stalked off, leaving James standing alone, mystified.

He shook his head. The world was going to madness and mayhem. He knew that if he'd asked Lily, she'd say that the world had always been that way, but she was wrong. Things had become worse, he knew that, but he was at Hogwarts. Nothing ever goes wrong for long at Hogwarts, not with Dumbledore around.

* * *

Reviewers get a bit of my birthday cake! Wishing you lots of laughter, love, and Harry Potter,

The Hogwartian


	4. Wouldn't It Be Nice

**A Haven From Darkness**

**Chapter Four: Wouldn't It Be Nice**

* * *

"I just can't do it, Prongs," cried Peter, flinging his wand across the room. This was not a wise move, as it caused the closed curtains of James' bed to catch fire.

Dousing the curtains with a spray of water from his wand, James let out a slightly frustrated sigh. Peter had been having trouble with the Blasting Curse in Defense Against the Dark Arts and James had volunteered to tutor him. Remus was still feeling off-color from the previous night's full moon and Sirius had all the patience of a blunt axe. Still, it wasn't easy to tutor Peter when the Blasting Cruse came so naturally to James.

"Yes, you can. You cannot just give up, Pete."

"I can't do this bloody curse though," Peter whined, making James even more frustrated. "Let's face it. I never should have taken this class."

"Don't be stupid, Peter. Of course, you should have taken it," James snapped. At Peter's shocked and hurt expression, James felt instantly ashamed. He knew he shouldn't take his frustration out on Peter, but it was sometimes too difficult to handle Peter when he did not understand something. James had never understood Peter's tendency to give up.

"Look, Pete," he said, straining to maintain his composure. "You couldn't have given up Defense Against the Dark Arts. What would you do when you left Hogwarts? How would you defend yourself, defend others?"

Peter threw himself on the bed. "I'd hide," he mumbled, rubbing his face tiredly.

James smiled. "Of course you wouldn't. You're a Gryffindor."

Sitting up, Peter hesitantly returned James' smile. "Yeah, I know."

Silently, James waited before cautiously handing over Peter's wand to him. "You've just got to be more certain about doing the curse. Have confidence, Wormy. If you think for even a half a second that it won't work, then it's not going to work."

Peter nodded his headed with a slightly less glum expression. Screwing up his face, it was as though James could hear Peter's thought process: build up the assurance, while desperately attempt to ignore the feeling of desperation and hopelessness. This was going to be it—the time that Peter would finally get it…

"Confringio!" shouted Peter. There was a blast and Peter was blown by some invisible force backwards into the bed. Groaning, he picked himself up.

"You almost had it," James said pleadingly in response to Peter's accusing look. "You just said the wrong thing. You should—"

"What in the name of Merlin's most saggy left nut happened here?" cried Sirius upon opening the door. Papers and discarded clothes were strewn all over the floor and there was a disgusting mold that seemed to have been dislodged from its spot underneath one of the beds.

"My pitiful attempts at the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework," said Peter pessimistically.

"The Blasting Curse?" asked Sirius, eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Didn't we cover that two or three weeks ago?"

"Yeah, but the test is coming up this week, so now I need to know it," replied Peter miserably. Then anxiously he asked, "She will ask it, won't she? Didn't she say in class that…"

Sirius laughed so loudly that Peter's words dropped off as he stared at Sirius perplexedly. James threw a look at him. The last thing that Peter needed was to be reminded of how little effort it took James, Sirius, and Remus to do magic. It was, however, too late.

"You don't honestly think I pay attention in that class?" Peter's face flushed red. "Anyway," coughed Sirius, awkwardly for Peter now had a look in his eyes of pure despair and jealousy, "Dumbledore said to give you this, Prongs." Sirius handed James a letter, which James took from him gratefully—anything to avoid looking Peter in the eye at the moment.

"It says he wants Lily and I to meet him for the first Head meeting," James said happily.

"Just make sure you're the first Head to get head," Sirius snickered. James scowled while Peter laughed. "What? You walked right into that one, Prongs."

"Et tu, Wormtail?" said James as Peter continued laughing quite noisily. James shook his head at his expense. "Well, you can continue helping Peter out, Padfoot, since you're the interruptee."

James was pleased to see that Peter stopped laughing at his expense, even if he was sorry to end Peter's lightened spirits. Sirius, on the other hand, made as though to object to helping Peter.

"He's almost got it," said James forcefully heading off Sirius' potential complaints. Sirius seemed to take an internal deep breath as he turned to Wormtail. James breathed a sigh of relief—the last thing that he needed was for Sirius declare Peter unteachable as he had been wont to do in the past. He usually tried to pawn tutoring Peter off on Remus, but Remus wouldn't be able to do it today as he was feeling under the weather.

James needn't have worried though because as he closed the door to the dormitory, he heard Sirius say in an easily detectable, falsely cheerful voice, "Let's see what you've got, Pete….and don't give me that I-can't-do-it look. Merlin!"

Shaking his head in bemusement, James headed out the Gryffindor tower, nearly running into someone rushing in from the portrait. It was Lily and she was alight with excitement.

"Don't mind me," called the Fat Lady as Lily slammed the portrait closed.

"Sorry!" Lily called over her shoulder as she rushed toward James. "Have you heard? Did you get the note? We get to meet with Dumbledore!"

James laughed. "It's not that big of a deal, you know."

As she pulled his hand in effort to make him move faster, Lily all but screeched, "Not that big of a deal? It's huge! He's only the most powerful wizard in the world—not to mention our Headmaster! And he wants to meet with me—I mean, us!"

"He's just a wizard, not a celebrity."

"Just because you've got the inside scoop on meeting with Dumbledore from your Maraudering days doesn't mean that the rest of us have that close, personal relationship." She was mocking him, James knew, but he didn't mind as she continued, "If I didn't make Head Girl, I wouldn't even be sure that he knew my name!"

"If there is anything that you can be sure of, Miss Evans," said a voice from behind Lily, "It is that I know all of my students' names."

Dumbledore's piercing blue eyes twinkled madly. Lily's mouth dropped in utter shock. Dumbledore chuckled at Lily's gobsmacked expression and James' laughter rang in the corridor. Lily turned beet red.

As his laughter subsided, Dumbledore began walking again and said, "Ah, my dear, let us not continue to enjoy the evening at your expense. Peppermint humbugs!"

The gargoyle leapt aside, leaving Lily confused. James made a noise as if to start laughing again, but settled for a wide grin as she shot him a fierce look that would have made Peter quiver in fear. James was still grinning as he bowed to Lily as she walked in. Lily stepped inside Dumbledore's circular office with an air of cautious reverence.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable," said Dumbledore, smiling widely at Lily's awed, wide-eyed sweep over the room. James flopped in one of the squashy recliners in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked politely, proffering a bright yellow tray of candy. When both Lily and James shook their heads, Dumbledore gave a slightly disappointed little shrug. James barely held in a snort. Every time James came into his office, Dumbledore asked if he would like a lemon drop—and every time he refused. It was a little bit baffling as to why Dumbledore always offered him sweets.

"Now, then," he began, "We are going to have our first Hogsmeade visit on Halloween. I—"

"But why's it so far away?" James interrupted.

"I suspect it's because of all the trouble with the Death Eaters, right, Professor?" interjected Lily in what anyone but James would consider a sweet voice. He was rather distracted by her foot that was grinding his toe into the floor.

Dumbledore beamed. "Right in one!" he said cheerfully. "Now, the pair of you will need to plan a time to work on the signs for the House billboards and put them up."

"What time will we be leaving and coming back, sir" asked Lily. James could practically see the wheels in her head spinning.

"I will leave that up to you, my dear," said Dumbledore. "And might I say that you both are doing an excellent job this year. I can't remember the last time we had such proactive Heads!"

Lily blushed as James said in a smug voice, "Naturally." As they left to begin their Head Patrol, they could hear Dumbledore still chuckling. They walked in a companionable silence for a time. More to break the silence than anything else, James asked, "Do you ever get the feeling that Dumbledore's planning something?"

"Planning something? No," Lily said automatically. "What would Dumbledore be planning?"

"Dunno," James replied, slightly sheepish. "Like a surprise for us, I guess. He's such a sneaky guy..."

Lily laughed lightly. "I never thought about it, but I suppose he could be planning something. You have any ideas?"

James raised an eyebrow as if to ask 'are you kidding?'

"I take it you do, then," laughed Lily. "Have it, then. Tell me what kinds of things could a brilliant man like Albus Dumbledore plan."

"Well," said James slowly. "He could plan something like…world domination."

"What?" choked Lily. "_Dumbledore_ planning world domination? You're more cracked than I thought, James."

"He could!" James insisted, inwardly delighted that she had called him by his name. "He'd probably do it in a really clever unsuspecting way…like spiking Sugar Quills—or those—those Lemon drops he's always!"

"But no one ever eats those!"

"Exactly! Thwarted by everyone's politeness!"

"That makes absolutely no sense, James," said Lily laughing.

James watched as Lily, turned beet red, breathless with laughter. There was never a more beautiful sight, he thought. And suddenly, without planning it, without thinking about it, he said it:

"Go out with me, Lily."

Lily stopped laughing abruptly. She gave him a brief deer-in-headlights look and took a couple of quick steps back. It was too sudden, James thought, as he briefly considered taking it back. But, still, he couldn't bring himself to take it back. His feelings for Lily were still there, strong as ever—surely she still knew that?

"No," she answered simply, but not unkindly. It was a marked improvement than the past. James always thought that if she were to ever answer him without anger or disgust in her voice that he would die happy. But now that the moment was finally here, he knew he was wrong. It was not enough to know that he was so close and yet so very far way.

"Why?" he demanded, a little sharper than he intended.

However, Lily seemed to take no notice. She was struggling to come up with an answer. James took a step closer, pressing his advantage. Closing the space between them, slowly, but surely, seemed to have the effect on her that he had always wanted. She licked her lips nervously and breathed a shaky breath. Several times she opened and closed her mouth, but nothing came out.

"Why?" asked James. His voice was softer this time, pleading. But still, Lily did not answer. She looked, if anything, more uncomfortable. As she glanced to the side, James knew that she was itching for a way out of the conversation. Seeing nothing, however, she seemed to visibly admit defeat.

"You don't—you can't—ugh," she began, "I can't say it without—without being blunt."

"You can't say it with out being blunt about it?" he repeated numbly. James thought he might explode. She nodded miserably. "Why can't you be blunt about it?"

Lily wrung her hands up in the air, nearly socking James in the chest. She didn't seem to notice, however, as she said, "Because you're you and I'm—that is to say—er—you and me…we've…I dunno, become sort of, I mean in a weird kind of way….friends."

If he weren't so sure it would have completely ruined the moment, James would have laughed jubilantly. He could virtually see the look on the faces of all of his friends—especially Sirius, who was a long time doubter of Lily ever liking James—when he told them that Lily liked him….as a friend. The word seemed to bring him down several notches and he inwardly winced. Lily seemed to have been heartened by this admission and James' lack of outward reaction.

"…and I just don't think that we should continue this cat-and-mouse game, when you clearly…."

"When I clearly what?" James asked her, wondering if he should dread the response."

Lily cleared her throat and when she spoke again, it was with more of the confidence that he usually associated with her. James noticed, however, that she looked away as she said, "When you can't possibly have ever really liked me."

"I never really liked you?!" James exploded. He had reached the breaking point. "I asked you out nearly every week for a year, got rejected creatively, yet brutally every time, flirted with you at every opportunity…and I never liked you? I'm sorry, Lily, but you're logic is warped."

"Well, I guess that's what did it, then," she replied hotly as she blushed slightly.

"What? Flirting with you? Asking you out?"

"No," she said miserably. When James merely glared at her, she continued, "My cracked logic."

James' mouth twitched as if to smile, but he did not say anything as Lily continued.

"Well, when first you started flirting with me, and I didn't know what to make of it, so I ignored you and sort of hoped you'd go away. And it was also really embarrassing because I didn't know what to say back. But you only got louder, and other boys starting becoming interested in me—my own best friend even!—and I just thought that it was entirely your fault. If you hadn't stepped in and been so loud, nobody would have ever noticed me..."

"Lily, dearest," interrupted James, unable to help himself. "With those boobs like yours, you could never remain unnoticed long."

"See!" said Lily in an I-told-you-so voice. "Things like that! What do I say to that? 'Gee thanks, I'm glad you like what nature gave me?'"

James gave in to the urge to laugh as he said, "No, just 'thanks' would've been all right." He quickly ducked as Lily made to swat him playfully. "I guess if I try very hard, I could maybe see your point," he admitted.

"Thank you," Lily said primly. "So anyway, after awhile I just became very cynical, I suppose you could call it. I was getting all this attention from guys everywhere, even when I went home over the holidays, and it's all because I've got—well, you know." She gestured towards her ample chest. "I just wanted to be small and petit in a normal sort of way, not a sexy stripper sort of way. I guess I just made you my scapegoat….and it didn't really help that you really _were_ an arrogant toerag."

If she hadn't sounded so forlorn, James might've thought that she was joking. Millions of witches everywhere would be thrilled to have her boobs, her body, her anything, and she hated it. It made no sense…and yet it did.

"Right, well…" he said awkwardly, looking around for something—anything— to get them off of the topic.

"We should get back to patrolling," Lily finished for him.

* * *

As the weeks until the first Hogsmeade visit slipped by, the conversation with Lily slowly slid from the forefront of his mind, though not entirely forgotten. At first he had tried to speak with her more about it, but Lily seemed determined to never show her vulnerable side to James again. Eventually, he simply had to accept her unwillingness to speak further about it as one of Lily's many quirks.

Besides, James reasoned, there were other things, stranger occurrences, to think about. Like why Artemisia was suddenly full of her old passion for Quidditch. James overheard Stephen Wood, the Gryffindor Beater, mention to Renita Quinton, the new Chaser, that the change was almost overnight.

Mary, on the other hand, said that it really was overnight: Artemisia had received an owl that made her face "light up like the sun." Considering that Artemisia and Mary were as different as night and day, James thought that this was high praise. It was rare for Mary to compliment Artemisia because Mary was often annoyed with the ever-pragmatic Artemisia for pointing out that her Divination skills (and those of the Divination professor) were paltry at best.

Still, whatever the reasoning behind Artemisia's revived zest for Quidditch, he was grateful. Her depression was beginning to impact the team so much so that James thought that he might have to seriously consider letting her go. Happy to begin training, James stepped out to the Quidditch Pitch.

As the team gathered their brooms to warm up, James wandered over to where Sirius and Remus were sitting. Together, James' three friends made up the management that kept Gryffindor happy and winning—and James' Captaincy. James would never consider teaching the team a new move (such as the Porskoff Ploy that the team would be working on today) without approval from the other three. Their advice on from practice times to training style was vital to the success of Gryffindor.

"Hey, where's Peter?"

"Dunno," said Sirius, staring at the sky. "But you'll want to watch Mary; she's still having a bit of trouble making those left turns."

"I thought she said that the effects from that Transfiguration letter. You know that her left arm was the one she was Transfiguring…."

"Don't be absurd, Remus," James interjected, snickering slightly. "It's clearly the effect of the Moon coming in perfect alignment with Jupiter's sixteen moons."

Together, they laughed. Mary's well publicized belief in what she called the "sacred art of Divination" was a bit of a joke with most of the Gryffindors. Occasionally, James had even had to make up the alignments of the planets just to get her to come to practice. But before they could continue poking a bit of fun at Mary, Peter popped up, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hey, guys! Guess what?"

"You've been using my Invisibility Cloak again, haven't you?" asked James. His face was stern and Peter looked slightly ashamed. James laughed and clapped Peter on the back, saying, "Not a big deal, Wormy! What's the news?"

"You remember you argued with Lily a couple of weeks back about her and Mary not talking?" asked Peter. When the others nodded, he continued, "Well, I think I've figured out why AND I think that we can find a way to get them to start being friends again."

* * *

The day that I finished this chapter is actually the birthday of one of the most awesome characters in the entire series. Seriously, she's a great homemaker, an awesome mum, killed Bellatrix Lestrange, and said what probably is the most quoted line in Deathly Hallows: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"….Happy birthday, Molly Weasley!

Please, please, please review!! Let me know how I'm doing! Wishing you lots of laughter, love, and Harry Potter until then,

The Hogwartian


	5. Behind Closed Doors

**A Haven From Darkness**

**Chapter Five: Behind Closed Doors  
**

* * *

The halls were empty as James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked back to Gryffindor tower. They were discussing Quidditch and Gryffindor's prospects. From the leisurely pace at which they walked, it was impossible to tell that all four of them were itching get back to their room to discuss Peter's plan. 

"I think you're going to need to work with Quinton a lot more. Her aim is about as accurate as my mother's," Sirius said to James, who nodded.

"But she's fast," interjected Remus. "And that's incredibly important, especially with Mary's flying being so off lately."

James took a quick look around them. Seeing no one coming, he leaned in toward Remus. "I thought we were getting that taken care of," he said.

Just as quietly, Remus replied, "But we're not exactly sure if Wormtail's plan will work or even if the problem is fixable."

"Right," said Sirius loudly. "Well, let's hold in our breath 'till we get to the tower then."

Sirius then casually tucked a piece of hair behind his ear. James knew that move: it meant there was a girl somewhere nearby. He glanced behind him, and sure enough, there was a sixth year Ravenclaw practically running down the hallway, an armful of books in tow. She didn't glance at Sirius.

"Bad luck, mate," Remus snickered. Sirius scowled at him. No one questioned why the girl had been running and James vaguely wondered if he should have stopped her, being Head Boy and all. It seemed to take an age and a half for the four of them to reach Gryffindor Tower.

"Finally!" exclaimed Sirius impatiently. "Now spill, Wormy."

Peter reached in his picket, concentrating intensely as he digged around for whatever he was looking for. His tongue was nearly touching his nose and his eyes were rolled upwards in concentration. James rather thought that Peter resembled a stuck pig, with his arm stuck so deep in his pocket. He glanced at Remus and Sirius as they waited. Sirius was tapping his foot on the ground impatient as always, his arms folded nonchalantly. Remus, on the other hand, was gazing out the window at the moon.

"Ah," said Peter as his hand finally came out of his pocket. Remus turned back to Peter, giving them his utmost attention and a curious look that reminded James of Dumbledore surveying the Great Hall. Sirius stopped tapping and mouthed, "Finally," at James, who was now staring at Peter.

Peter was holding a grungy piece of parchment that James did not recognize. He held out to the parchment towards his three friends and opened it dramatically.

"I have here a piece of parchment," he said triumphantly, his face alight with triumph.

"Really? I would've never guessed," said Sirius sarcastically.

James shot Sirius a dirty look. "Go on, Pete," he said encouragingly.

"Well," began Peter slowly, "This is the letter that Mary got this morning from her father. She dropped it while she was on her way to Muggle Studies."

"And you picked it up?" asked Remus. He looked one step short of horrified. But James, Sirius, and Peter failed to see the apparent crime. "You realize that that is invasion of privacy at the highest level? You should have never, never—"

"Budge up, Moony," said Sirius, casually clapping the back of Remus' shoulder. "Mary'll get it back….After we've had a chance to read it …and possibly tinker with it."

If Sirius had meant his words to assuage Remus' conscience, an idea which James highly doubted, it didn't work. Remus glared at Sirius. It was, James thought, unsurprising that Remus might have reacted in such a way. It had only been two years since the passage of the laws mandating that all mail sent to and from a known werewolf must be checked by a Ministry employee. Although Dumbledore had managed to make an exception for Remus, seeing as how the rest of the Hogwarts population was unaware that Remus was a werewolf, Remus had felt privacy invasion a wrong more keenly than the others had.

"Look, Remus," said James placatingly, "It's for the common good. Mary'll be happy, she'll concentrate more on the pitch, and Lily will be happy with her friend back. Everyone wins."

Remus still look mutinous. James could practically see Remus wrestling his desire not to argue and possibly cause a rift in their friendship with the desire to do what he felt was right. Throat tight, Remus nodded slightly and muttered, "Fine."

"Th—there's a good mate," said Peter, eyes swiveling back and forth between Remus, James, and Sirius. Peter flattened the letter out in the middle of the floor, and they all circled around it.

_Dear Mary, _

_I am glad to hear that you have broken things off with that Muggleborn. I am sorry that it has had to come to this, but with the increase of the Muggleborn attacks, I maintain, as I did in the last letter that I sent, that you must maintain your distance for as long as necessary. I do not know if the attacks will increase in the near future, but associating with that girl can only make things worse for you. It will not be forever, I hope. I just cannot bear to see you, my only daughter, the person nearest and dearest to my heart, put in the line of fire. As I said, these Death Eaters seem indiscriminate towards anyone who may "betray" their blood by associating with a Muggleborn. And I do wish you good luck on your Divination exam this week._

_Love always,_

_Dad_

"Is she really serious?" asked Sirius in a hushed voice. He sounded as though he were disgusted and there was no wondering why, given Sirius' own struggle with the importance of blood and family. Still, he could not help but agree, when Sirius continued, "She broke off her friendship with Lily because his father told her to? That's pathetic."

"Well," squeaked Peter in a higher than normal voice, "She probably is under a lot of pressure. I mean, her dad—well, he only wants what's best for her, doesn't he?"

Sirius, James and Remus all looked at Peter who seemed to sink into the ground, quailing under their combined glares. "It—it's what he wants t—to keep her safe," he said. And he continued, as if determined to get it all out, "He's not—not the only one advising his children to keep away from Muggleborns…."

"Are you saying that your dad's been telling you to keep away from Muggleborns, Peter?" asked James quietly. He was scared of the answer.

"Well, no," said Peter, biting his lip nervously. "I just—she—well, Mr. Wiley's not the only one."

"It does make sense," said Remus thoughtfully. They all looked at him sharply as he quickly corrected himself. "Not Mr. Wiley's advice. It's just that—well, clearly Mary listened. And it does make sense that she listened. We all know how close Mary's been with her dad since her mum passed."

James nodded slowly. "I don't think that it's actually got anything to do with Lily….Hell, I'm not even so sure that she even thinks that it will work….The problem is, I think, like Remus said, that Mary's so easily led."

"Right," said Sirius roughly. "The question, then, is what we're going to do about it then." Sirius looked at all of them in turn fiercely. There was no doubt in James' mind that Sirius wanted to avoid talking about Mary being soft enough to listen to her father, that Mary's situation put in mind of his younger brother, Regulus.

"I—I think that we ought to replace this letter," said Peter hesitantly. "You know, write a letter telling her to be friends with Lily again."

Remus' eyes widened and his nose flared, but before Remus could object, James said, "I dunno if that'll work, Wormy."

"What else can we do?" snapped Sirius. "It's the only way to get her to be friends with Lily again and have everything back to normal." James could think of a thousand reasons why this was not a smart plan.

"Not exactly," said James slowly. "What if she writes back, telling him what she's listened, that she's friends with Lily again. He'll write back, won't he? Then they'll both know that her mail's been tampered with."

"Not if we tell her that the matter's closed," replied Sirius darkly.

"Then you don't know Mary at all," said Remus flatly. "She may listen to her father, but judging by this letter, it sounds like she's objected to his suggestion. She won't let the matter rest just because her father told her to."

Sirius sighed, frustrated. James could feel his own tension building up. Knowing the problem, he had assumed would help them, but it seemed that the matter had only become more complicated. They could pretend that they hadn't read the letter, but he didn't trust Peter, nor Sirius, nor even himself to be able to keep quiet about the matter with Mary. Then an idea hit him suddenly, like lightning.

"What if," he began excitedly, "we don't give Mary this letter at all. We don't have to replace it. Mary will probably think that something's up with her dad because she won't receive a letter. She'll be all worried about him, fearing the worst…And you know what she does, when she's worried…!"

"She talks," said Remus, a smile dawning upon his tired face, "to Lily. She won't be able to resist. We wouldn't even need a new letter."

Sirius looked dubious about this and Peter dumbfounded. "But what if she doesn't? What if she decides to follow through with her dad's advice to, I dunno, honor him or something."

"She won't," said James confidently. "She'd talk to Lily about it first."

"How do you know?" breathed Peter admiringly.

"Because," said Remus, "Mary's first instinct, whatever the situation, is to talk to Lily. And it certainly is not as though she'd talk to Artemisia about it, given how they don't really get along all that well, especially with Artemisia's mood this year."

"Right," said James, optimistically. "And we can make sure that she's got doubts about her father's advice by talking to her."

Now Remus looked alarmed. "Won't that make her get defensive? She won't want to hear from us that she's got to listen to her own instincts, that sometimes her dad's not always right."

"No," said Sirius decisively. "Us talking about it won't do that if we talk about it amongst ourselves. We'll do it when we know that she's there, but we'll pretend like we don't know that she's there."

"What will we talk about?" asked Peter, his face shining with excitement.

"About Muggleborn and how we need to accept them now more than ever if we want to prevent our world from moving into Death Eater hands, of course," said James, smiling. He looked around at his friends. Each of them wore an expression that clearly agreed that this was a most brilliant plan.

"Well, now that's settled!" said Sirius, cheerfully. "You know, Prongs, it's been much too quiet these days."

James smirked at Sirius. He could practically hear the Sirius' thoughts channeling his. He looked at Remus, whose mingled look of excitement and responsibility told James that he would, as always, be a reluctant collaborator. Peter, on the other hand, still looked confused. More to relieve Peter's bewilderment than anything else, he spoke.

"Party. Gryffindor Tower. I'll get the butterbeers after Ancient Runes Wednesday."

* * *

It was evening. The sky was a bright orange as it was setting just before James left Hogsmeade via the Honeyduke cellar. There was a carton full of butterbeer floating behind him as he chewed happily on Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. The plan, he thought, had gone off without a hitch and, more importantly, he thought, Mary and Lily were certain to be reconciled any moment. It felt good to put a hand in it, even if Lily would never know the part that he had had in playing it. 

He stopped abruptly. He was about to enter the castle again from the one-eyed witchwhen he heard voices. One voice was soft and urgent, the other edgy.

"Look, I'm sorry, all right! There's no better way that I can put it," said the first voice. It sounded quite a bit like Mary's. But she sounded, if anything, angry.

"Sorry that you've got no one to talk to or sorry that you actually believed that that would work?" asked Lily. She sounded upset. Given the situation in which Lily had found herself, cornered in a generally empty hallway during dinner, James rather thought that she had every right to be. But he had never imagined that Lily would bear a grudge over the situation.

"Both!" shouted Mary over Lily. "Just hear me out, all right?"

James could practically see Lily's angry red hair standing on edge, making her look something similar to a red-haired version of an angry Veela. He could hear her tapping her foot in irritation, waiting to hear Mary's explanation out—if she would let Mary get that far.

"So," said Lily, equally as loud, letting out all of her anger, frustration, and bewilderment of the last few weeks in the one word. "Let's hear it then."

James peeked out of the hump. Mary was facing Lily and licking her lips nervously.

"It was my dad's decision," Mary began. Before she could continue, however, Lily let out a derisive laugh. Mary ignored this. "He told me that—that the Muggleborn attacks were increasing lately. And well, you read the Prophet, Lily, they are. And it's just Muggleborns, not even Muggles so much anymore." There was a pleading note in Mary's voice.

"So you dump our friendship," said Lily, her voice trembling with repressed emotion, "because your dad told you that Muggleborn attacks were increasing?"

The incredulity of Mary's decision hit James with a pang for the second time that week. Mary was seventeen years old, nearly eighteen. How could she have let herself be so easily lead by her dad? After all her blather about being independent last year when she turned of age…! But letting him dictate who she could and could not be friends with, he thought, was an all-time low.

"No," Mary responded swiftly. "Yes. I mean, it's not that simple."

"Really?" said Lily in a clipped voice.

"It's my dad," said Mary anguished. "How could I face him again, knowing that he only had my best interests at heart? My dad's not a purist, he—he just has a sense of self-preservation."

"Sense of self-preservation?" Lily all but screeched. James winced; even he could tell that that was not the best choice of words for Mary to have said.

"He's wrong!" Mary shouted. Her voice rang in the hallway. "He shouldn't have said it, any of it. But he did and I listened and I shouldn't've."

"You're damned right you shouldn't've."

"Lily, I screwed up. I know I did. If anything, I should've stood by you, told my dad to fly a kite or something. But can you please, please overlook it because I am truly, deeply sorry."

James held his breath while he waited for Lily's answer. But Lily did not speak for moment. Then, quietly, she said, "I will think about it, Mary."

"That's all I can ask," replied Mary humbly.

Lily walked off, her footsteps echoing in the wide hallway. James heaved himself from his awkward position inside the witch's hump, but sat back down quickly. Mary was staring after Lily. She gave a loud sniff and James wondered if he should comfort her. As soon as the impulse had come, it was gone. Mary had already begun to leave and, James reasoned, Sirius would never forgive him for giving away the secret pathway out of Hogwarts. And what would he have said—'Better luck next time?'

When there was finally complete silence, James peeked out of the witch's hump again. There was no one there. Cautiously, James climbed out of the witch's hump. Just as he disentangled his robes from the witch's hump, he heard quick footsteps approaching. He hurriedly murmured a Cushioning charm for the carton of butterbeer. Then, brushing his forehead to remove any sweat from his forehead, he leaned casually against the witch.

It was Snape. James had never seen Snape look so gleeful—except for when Sirius had told him how to get past the Whomping Willow last year. His heart was thumping in his chest that he was sure Snape could hear it.

"So," said Snape slowly.

James merely looked at him, willing all of his disdain and dislike into his look. Snape seemed to be contemplating something. There was something in Snape's calculating look that drove James to say, "So what, Snivellus?"

His words seemed to have been Snape's tipping point. Snape's eyes widened and his overlarge hooked nose flared, giving him the look of a vulture seizing upon its prey.

"You've been spying on Lily."

James made a dismissing noise. "Of course not, Snivellus. It's _your_ job to stalk her, not mine."

Snape made a quick move to his pocket, but James was quicker. Wands pointed at each other, they glared. James could practically feel Snape's hatred radiating towards in waves and knew that his own hatred for Snape was nearly equal to it.

"Snape! Potter!" barked Professor Turpin, "Explain yourselves. What is the meaning of this?" Both Snape and James jumped. Neither had suspected a teacher was nearby.

"Professor," began Snape in an oily voice that made James sick, "I was walking and Potter here just attacked me."

Professor Turpin merely looked at Snape, raising a golden eyebrow. It was a convincing tale, James thought, given his own track record with Snape. But there was no way Turpin could know his record….unless she had heard about it from one of the other professors….

"Detention, Snape," she said coolly.

Snape looked as shocked as James. He hadn't even needed to come up with an excuse for why his wand was pointed at Snape, not that he had had any bright ideas. Turpin, however, kept her cool in the wake of Snape's now accusatory look.

"You can't," he gasped.

"I assure you, I can," replied Professor Turpin evenly. "Further more, should you go to Slughorn, as I am sure you intended after this conversation, you rest assured that you will receive two detentions for questioning my authority. I do not take favorites, Snape, I merely dislike snitches like yourself."

Snape's mouth stood agape. James' mouth twitched in effort not to laugh. He stood as still as possible, hoping that Professor Turpin's attention would not be turned towards him. This was a needless worry, however, as Snape swiveled round, turning his back on Professor Turpin, and marched down the hallway from which he had come as he muttered angrily to himself.

Professor Turpin shook her head slightly as she watched Snape stalk away. James was sure that she would have chuckled if it were not for his presence, which she had, unfortunately, not forgotten about.

"Now, Mr. Potter," she said, "I will say this once, and only once. The next time I find you and your _friend_ Snape dueling in the hallways, I will be sure to give the pair of you detention."

James nearly sighed aloud in relief. He was not to receive detention after all! His relief at escaping the formidable Professor Turpin without punishment caused him to nearly miss her next words.

"I warn you, however, do not take the anger of your foes lightly. In the present climate, it may indeed be better to fight quietly or anonymously, or both."

James knew instinctively that she was talking about the Death Eaters. Everyone knew that Snape and his gang of Slytherins would probably go on to become Death Eaters, although the teachers never acknowledged this. They had preferred, instead, to teach them, give them spells, charms, and potions that they knew would probably be used against innocent people.

"I want to fight," he said.

Turpin raised a perfectly manicured finger and waved it disapprovingly. "I did not say not to fight. I am merely suggesting to you the importance of remaining discreet."

James did not understand Turpin's point. It made no sense. Someone had to fight. It had to be known that somewhere out there that someone was fighting, making a difference. When a group of people, or even one person, fought evil to seek justice, it gave courage to everyone.

"I want to be known."

"You foolish boy," said Professor Turpin quietly. "Voldemort skulks in the shadows and fights in the darkness, and his power seeps over our world, lik ooze. You cannot expect to brazenly wave your wand, proclaim for one and all to know that you oppose him. He will come for you. And not just you…your family… friends…and everyone that you hold dear." Her voice broke, but she continued, "There will be no place for you to hide."

"So no one fights in the open because they fear for their families?"

"I did not say that," replied Turpin, her voice quieter even still. "There is safety in numbers, Potter. Remember that. A group of fighters, a group of unknown fighters is what we need. Think on that, Potter, and good night to you."

Professor Turpin gave no room for James to answer her. He did not, in any case, have an answer for her. A group of unknown fighters defying Voldemort…. Where would one find such a group? And was it wiser to fight anonymously than in the open?

* * *

I am quite sorry for the delay in this chapter. Between final exams and writer's block, this chapter was extremely difficult to finish, especially given my propensity to procrastinate. The next chapter will, hopefully, be up before the New Year. No guarantees, of course. 

I have a review bribe: The reviewer that can name who said this quote, to whom it was said, and which book it was in gets a sneak peek at the chapter to come!

"Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas."

Don't forget to let me know how I'm doing! Happy guessing and a happy Christmas! Wishing you lots of laughter, love, and Harry Potter always,

The Hogwartian


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